Winds Prevented Helicopters from Airlifting VA Tech Wounded

BLACKSBURG, Va. - At least four victims of the Virginia Tech shooting spree were fighting for their lives in nearby hospitals Monday after tempestuous winds prevented helicopters from airlifting them to larger trauma centers.

"They were trying to get the helicopters in but they couldn't because of the wind," said Richard Nunez, 21, a senior in the industrial systems engineering department.

Instead, emergency medical technicians rushed to the scene in a fleet of ambulances to ferry casualties to hospitals closer to the southwestern Virginia campus.

At least 28 people were treated at four facilities. Seventeen were treated at Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, five were taken to Lewis-Gale Medical Center in nearby Salem, four to Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg and two to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, hospital operator HCA Inc. said in a statement.

"We mobilized all of our resources, clinic support and medical staff related to deal with the influx of patients," said Mark Foust, a spokesman for HCA Virginia Hospitals.

Of the 17 students treated at Montgomery Regional, five had been released Monday night but three were listed as critical, said hospital CEO Scott Hill.

One person was in critical condition at Carilion New River, spokeswoman Sharon Honaker said.

The three other victims taken there were in stable condition.

"I don't think you're ever adequately prepared for this level of violence, although we knew that numerous patients were on the way. Things went as good as they can go," Hill said.

"We're just heartbroken for Virginia Tech and what they are going through now," he said.

On the sprawling Virginia Tech campus, it seemed that every student knew of someone who had been caught up in the carnage.

"One of my really good friends was shot three times," said a 19-year-old student who would give only her first name, Briettney.

"You always pray it's not somebody you know," she said, adding, "I know that's a terrible thing to say."

Her friend Lia Burden, 19, from Fredericksburg, Va., was stunned to learn that a former dormmate had been wounded.

"She lived on my hall last year. She was a good friend," said Burden, who didn't know how badly the young woman was hurt.

Briettney said her friend, who was shot in the knee, buttocks and shoulder, was expected to be all right.

"The one day he goes to class, he gets shot three times!"

As hospitals tended to the wounded, rescue workers began the grim task of recovering the bodies of those who didn't make it.

After dark, a cortege of ambulances trundled up to Norris Hall, where most of the killings occurred.

One by one, the ambulances backed up to the two-story building, waiting while bodies were loaded into the makeshift hearses.

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(Meek and Sisk reported from Blacksburg, Fenner from New York. New York Daily News correspondent Nicole Bode contributed from New York.)

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